(July 20, 2013 at 10:40 pm)Consilius Wrote: Still, one more problem.
An apple, under white light, is red.
Water, under white light, is blue? Not exactly. If the water is deep enough, yes, and, depending on how deep the water is, some samples of water are bluer than others. To say 'water is blue' is an assumption based on certain samples of water. If we have a shallow pool, the water remains colorless.
This isn't a good example of the whole being different from the parts because it is not a definite attribute of a particular whole.
It would be if you could say, "When water comes together, is becomes 90% blue."
What we have is, "When enough water is arranged deep enough, it becomes a particular shade of blue based on how deep it is."
That would be like saying, "Bricks are short, but when they are piled on top of one another, they become tall."
Consilius, comrade, it is easier to end this charade by agreeing that water (any volume of it) is only slightly blue. Pale blue. It is incredibly transparent and weakly reflective of blue light while strongly reflective of white light. Is this fine?